CHAPTER-1

INTRODUCTION
 CHAPTER -1

INTRODUCTION

1.01 Overview
In any country, in the sector of public administration, the structure and

functioning of the Civil Services exercises a marked influence. The nature

and the character of Indian Civil Service were shaped by the British. The

most prized value on which the Indian Administrative Service was founded

is its neutrality, checks and balances in the system. But in the present

scenario the Indian Administrative System is entangled with political

pressures which need an urgent solution so as to help the system function

effectively for which it is meant. The other important discussion of the study

is the growth of service jurisprudence arising out of issues relating to cadre

management and intra - service conflict in the domain of All India Services.

With this backdrop in view, the Introductory Chapter is presented under

nine sections relating to the various issues of the present investigation. In

the second section is presented a brief introduction to the present study

followed by need for the investigation in the third section. The fourth section

deals with the statement of the research problem, wherein a detailed

analysis of the problem is made with various questions and issues of the

problem. A brief review of the related literature that helped the researcher in

shaping this study is presented in the fifth section. In the sixth section are

presented the aims and objectives of the study. The seventh section relates
 2

to hypotheses formulated for the purpose of the present study. The eighth

section is set-apart for discussing the methodological aspects of the study.

In the ninth section the scope and limitation of the present piece of

investigation is discussed. The last section (i.e. section 10) deals with

Chapterisation of the thesis.

1.02 Introduction
The Civil Service is ‘a body of official, permanent, paid and skilled’1.

The Civil Service constitutes the permanent executive in the Modern State.

While the Parliament, the Cabinet, and the President may resign, it is the

Civil Service, which really governs.

The civil service of independent India is a continuation of the civil

service of the British colonial rule. With the emergence of responsible

government and growth of Indian nationalism the structure and composition

of the Civil Service underwent change from Indian Civil Service to Indian

Administrative Service, becoming a part of All India Services.

The term ‘All India Service’2 was first coined in 1919 by M.E.

Gauntlet. These services were controlled and recruited by the Secretary of

State for India. For the system of responsible Government to be successful

in practical working, the existence of a competent and independent Civil

Service staffed by persons capable was considered as a pre-requisite to

give to successive minister’s advice based on their long administrative

1H. Asirvatham -Political theory, 1952 (5th Edition) The Upper India Publishing House Ltd. Lucknow, Pg.308.
2 The All India Service includes; The Indian Civil Service, The Indian Police Service, The Indian Forest Service,.
 3

experience to carry out the policy upon which the Government and

Legislature eventually decide3.

The structure and functioning of the Civil Services leave a great

impact on public administration of any country. Laski, writing on the

prominence of the Civil Services states number of reasons: -“first being the

greatly increased importance of the service itself. Secondly, the change

from the negative state to the positive state has brought with it so vast an

extension of public business that the Minister is compelled to leave to his

officials all but the largest decisions on major policy. Thirdly, after the

abolition of patronage the service was able to attract to its ranks, a body of

men as able as found in any walk of life in this country.

Their standards of conduct rapidly became a model for the whole

world. They were incorruptible. They served the Government of the day,

whatever its complexion, with equal zeal. They made possible the

organization of knowledge for the business of administration at a level

completely different from anything that had gone before”4

Up till independence, Indian Civil Service had been serving the

British Empire, which shaped the nature and character of the civil service.

The general perception of the people of India about the civil service was

that it was Pro-British and was opposed to the forces that were fighting for

the freedom of India. After independence, the civil service was expected to

serve the people of India under the premiership of those very people whom
3 Herald J. Laski, Parliamentary Government in England
4 Herald J, Laski, Parliamentary Government in England, George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1938, Page 309
 4

they used to oppose during the British regime. Many of the white ICS

officers opted to go back to England and many of the Indian ICS officers

waited for their future role in independent India. The question before the

constituent assembly was whether to retain the old ICS or create a new

service. The Constituent Assembly of India decided to retain the services

but rechristened the Indian Civil Service as Indian Administrative Service

and the Indian Police as Indian Police Service and accorded constitutional

status to these services. Part XIV, Chapter I of the Constitution of India

deals with services in general and also All India Services. The Constitution

of India also retained the concept of the Union Public Service Commission

as well as the State Public Service Commissions to deal with the central

services and the provincial services respectively. In the debates of the

constituent assembly Sardar Patel elaborately discussed the role that was

expected of this newly created Indian Administrative Service and Dr.

Ambedkar had emphasized the need for an independent and fearless civil

service. Thus the Indian Administrative Service came into being to shoulder

the administrative responsibilities in the Country, to be manned b^

personnel with neutrality, integrity, and capability so as to keep up the

confidence reposed in them by the constitution.

1.03 Need of the present study

Historically speaking, the Indian Administrative Service has had a rich

and glorious past, but the richness and glory of the history may not be a

relevant factor in justifying its existence in the present day context. India
 5

has emerged from the morass of economic backwardness, illiteracy and

ignorance, poverty and sickness to become a world power recording an all

round economic development, improved literacy, excellent health systems

and great infrastructure. The Indian Administrative Service, the politicians

as well as the common man, with awe, look upon a repository of the past

glory. But, it is hard to find a couple of persons who share the values that

the framers of the Constitution had prized. Many are not well aware of the

assumptions, values and conventions on which the Indian Administrative

Service rests. One of the most prized values and assumptions lying at the

root of All India Services is its neutrality. Dr. Ambedkar5 warned the

Constituent Assembly on Nov 4, 1948 “it is perfectly possible to pervert the

Constitution, without changing its form, by merely changing the form of the

administration and to make it inconsistent (with) and opposed to the spirit of

the Constitution”. The tremendous economic growth in India in recent

years has raised the level of stakes of the politicians to a new height

thereby creating a situation wherein holding on to power became the main

agenda and in order to perpetuate the hold the politicians have been

exhibiting signs of great desperation, in the process, support of the other

pillar of the executive i.e., the Civil Servants is being sought either by

willingness or by coercion. Either way, there is degradation of the value

system of the AIS. The economic growth of the country has also produced a

class of middlemen who lobby with the politicians and the vested economic

interests - an investment less business with highest returns on a mere

5 Constituent Assembly debates. Vol. VII, Page: 38

public relation skills. This has proved to be a deadly combination and it has

been mounting tremendous pressure on the Indian Administrative Service

to convert the latter into what is called a committed bureaucracy. In the

process, the conventions and values that have gone into the creation of the

All India Services are being battered to insignificance and the process of

degradation is slow, steady and perpetual.

In this direction the first attempt was made in 1969 when Mrs. Indira

Gandhi went on the concept of committed bureaucracy and committed

judiciary6. The second attempt was made during emergency. According to

A.G. Noorani, while there has been significant progress in many spheres in

the last three decades, a creeping political and constitutional vandalism has

eaten into the vitals of all the organs of the state - executive, legislative and

judicial. According to Noorani, it is no comfort to know that the British

model is not in good form either and the rot had started during Margaret

Thatcher’s time who was able to make huge dents into the system and

amass power unconstitutionally; and Tony Blair has inflicted on it

unforgivable damage, which it would be hard to repair. According to him, in

both the cases of Tony Blair and Mrs. Indira Gandhi the motive was

amassment of personal power.

There is one more dimension now added to the Constitutional and

administrative environment of the Country- the growth of regional parties.

6 A.G. Noorani - A system in decline, Frontline, dt24 Sept-7 Oct, 2005, Page 2
 7

Today six major States of the country are ruled by regional parties

about whom there is popular belief, (which may not be fully true), that they

are ignorant of the Constitutional conventions and values that have gone

into the making of the Indian Administrative Service. They are known critics

of Mrs. Indira Gandhi, but they follow the same path, as did Mrs. Gandhi

and Margaret Thatcher. Besides, it is alleged that they amply demonstrate

lack of national perspective. Similarly, the National parties like the

Congress, the BJP and the Communist parties appear to be no different

from the regional parties as far as their perception of the All India Services

is concerned. The DMK/AIADMK Governments in Tamil Nadu, the

Mayavathi Government in Uttar Pradesh, the Biju Janatha Dal Government

in Orissa, and in the recent past, the NTR Government/Chandrababu Naidu

Governments in Andhra Pradesh are alleged to have thrown up such

glaring instances of constitutional vandalism on the selected executives (the

IAS) that they put Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi and Tony Blair to

shame.

It may appear to be an over statement, but the comment is based on

certain service related case law of IAS Officers and a couple of IPS officers

who were given a raw deal by the regional political parties. For example,

the case of ‘Nepal Singh Tanwar’ of Haryana, T.Ramachandran and Hari

Bhaskar of Tamil Nadu, Sarma Rao of Andhra Pradesh and Dinakar and

Srinivasulu of Karnataka and recently the suspension of one I.G., two DIGs,

three S.Ps by the Mayavathi Government in U.P. are but a few examples.
 8

These cases offer a few of many examples of constitutional vandalism

wreaked upon the selected executive (IAS and IPS) by the elected

executive (politicians). We also notice large number of cases arising out of

grievances concerning the matter of promotion while implementing various

Rules and Regulations governing the promotion having political overtones.

The recurrences of these incidents for the last 60 years have made the

services shaky on one hand, and led to growth of service law on the other.

Another dimension which concerns the present research study more

is the growth of service jurisprudence in the domain of All India Services,

arising out of the intra-service conflict among the cadre officers recruited to

IAS, IPS from different sources. This important area of study exposes the

weakness of the present system of cadre management of All India

Services.

In this background, the present research study assumes greater

significance for the common man, the politicians, the jurists and the civil

servants themselves. The system has been continually on the decline and

the situation warrants immediate intervention by the stakeholders and the

biggest stakeholders are the people of India who need to know the values

and conventions that lie at the root of the constitutional services called the

Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service. The next

important stakeholder is the services who urgently need a law to ensure

their neutrality that give them security so that they discharge their duties
 9

without fear in the manner the framers of the constitution wanted them to

do.

The growth of the Service Law in the domain of All India Services

with all its connotations of independence and security of the service

affecting the democratic institutions on one side, and a National perspective

via its All India character on the other side, and its evolution since inception

in 1773 under the East India Company and its struggle to find new

equations and the role re-definitions in the present day context of our

country is a matter of immense utility to the members of the Indian

Administrative Service who are professionally concerned with the subject.

The growth of service law in this area is also of immense utility to

Academics and members of judicial service representing the bench and the

Lawyers on the bar. It has been noticed that the case law arising out of a

service related grievance of an IAS/IPS officer may not be so proliferate as

the other service law related cases pertaining to the persons serving under

the Union or the States might be but wherever they arise they are noted for

their sensitivity and rich constitutional implications and many a times it was

felt that the literature on the subject was wanting in quality and content.

The present study is a humble attempt to bridge the gap. Hence the need

for present study, on “GROWTH OF SERVICE JURISPRUDENCE IN THE

DOMAIN OF ALL INDIA SERVICES”.

1.04 Statement of the Research Problem

The growth of the AIS in the pre-independence era, its nature and

character, glory and luster arose out of historical reasons but their retention

in the post independence era called for a role redefinition. The need for role

re-definition arose from two factors: (1) change in the nature and character

of the Indian polity from being the dominion of an imperialistic empire to a

democratic republic and (2) In an independent democratic republic the civil

service could not behave in the same way as it did in the pre-independence

era. The need for redefining the role of the service was incorporated in

Article 312 of the Constitution of India and the Parliament of India was

charged with the responsibility of making legislation on the subject. The

AIS were continued without making any law governing their recruitment and

condition of service.

After the Constitution of India was adopted, an anomalous situation

continued until the passage of the All India Services Act of 1951 and

various Regulations and Rules were framed by the Government of India to

regulate the conditions of service of AIS and method of entry into service

etc., instead of passing a full fledged Act. We find that, the Parliament of

India took call of that situation and passed the Act 61 of 1951, which is

nothing, but an enabling Act empowering the Union of India to frame Rules

and Regulations governing the recruitment and conditions of service of

persons appointed to All India Services. Despite the Act of 1951 the gap

was not bridged, nor the existing provision of the constitution were
 11

adequate. For e.g. Article 309 of the Constitution of India stipulates that

Acts of the appropriate legislature may regulate the recruitment and

conditions of service of persons appointed to public services and posts in

connection with the affairs of the Union or of any State. The Proviso to

Article 309 empowers the President of India and the Governor of a State to

make rules regulating the recruitment and the conditions of service of

persons appointed to such services and posts until provision in that behalf

is made by or under an Act of the appropriate legislature under these

Articles. However, this empowering article, does not govern the domain of

All India Services. In spite of these gaps the Parliament of India has not

legislated any law regulating recruitment and conditions of Service of the

IAS. The bulk of legislation in this regard is to be found in the shape of

various Rules and Regulations framed by the Government of India which

should be categorized as “delegated legislation”.

There is a glaring difference between Article 309 and Article 312 of

the Constitution of India. While Article 309 expressly empowers the

President of India and the Governor of a State to make Rules and

Regulations governing recruitment and conditions of service in the case of

Union and State services, there is no such empowerment in case of All

India Services. Eventually, the growth of service jurisprudence has to be

traced along the various Rules and Regulations made by the Government

of India not under the provisions of the Constitution but under the single
 12

legislation namely, the All India Services Act which has only four sections

but which gives to the President what the Constitution has not given.

This is a very surprising development in the domain of All India

Services. The All India Services Act of 1951 is an Act under the enabling

provisions of Article 312 of Constitution of India but instead of legislating on

the subject, the Parliament has delegated its power of legislation to the

Government of India, and this delegated power has been extensively used

by the Executive and all the Rules and Regulations framed so far claim their

legitimacy under the Act 61 of 1951. It would be interesting to know what

plea was taken by the parliament while enacting the AIS Act 1951.

A study of the statement of objectives and reasons of the All India

Services Act would reveal the following facts:

1) “Article 312 of the Constitution “provides that Parliament may by law

regulate the recruitment and the conditions of service of persons

appointed to the All India Services common to the Union and the

States. At present, there are two such All India Services, namely, the

Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service. In the

absence of any proviso to Art. 312, similar to that included in Art. 309,

the Government of India is now compelled to deal with many of these

matters by means of non-statutory executive orders. This is neither

satisfactory nor quite justifiable.

7 Para 1 Preamble to The All India Services Act 1951.

2) Parliament should provide the requisite statutory authority to enable

the Government of India to carry on the day-to-day management of

the two All India Services and also to take and promulgate decisions

on matters relating to the recruitment and the conditions of service

from time to time8.”

3) The entire body of legislation on the All India Services falls into the

category of “Subordinate Legislation”. Interestingly, it may be

observed that though All India Services enjoy prominence in day-to-

day administration, yet no scholar so far, has carried out any

systematic research on the subject and it remained a virgin soil.

In this background an attempt is made to study the legal issues

relating to recruitment to All India Services, particularly, with reference to

IAS. The Research Study has been initiated around two sets of questions;

one related to general perception of service and its role relations with

politicians and its significance to the dynamics of socio economic change

and growth of democracy in the country and the other one deals with the

legal issues.

The first set of questions relate to the legal dimensions of the service

with regard to the constitutional provision and need for a comprehensive

legislation governing the recruitment, conditions of service and its role re­

definitions. This set of questions comprises of the issues like; what should

be the role of the service in the present day context in India? Whether there

8 Para 3 Preamble to The All India Services Act, 1951.

is any need to revisit the objectives of the service? Whether the service has

the relevance to the present day context in Indian conditions? Is there any

need to define the role-relations between the elected executive and

selected executive? What are the perceptions of the general public, the

politicians, the jurists and the social thinkers of the country about the All

India Services?

The second set of questions in the research problem centers around

the issues like: Whether the All India Services need a comprehensive

Legislation concerning the recruitment and conditions of service and

whether they deserve it? Why the Parliament of India is yet to find time to

legislate on the subject in spite of a long period of 57 years having gone

past? Why this elite service is governed by Rules and Regulations framed

by the executive in exercise of the power of delegated legislation? Why the

Constitutional obligation cast by Art.312 of the Constitution of India has not

been discharged by the Parliament? In what magnitude cases of service

related grievances have been arising in the domain of All India Services,

and how quickly they have been redressed? Whether arising of a grievance

is attributable to an absence of legislation on the subject and imperfection in

the Rules and Regulations?

To sum up, the research problem has two sides. One side of the study

encompasses the issues relating to relevance of the services (AIS), and the

other side encompasses the legislatic issues.

1.05 Review of Literature

A brief review of the literature relating to the present study which

helped the researcher in shaping the study are detailed as follows: Herald

Laski’s valuable treatise entitled Parliamentary Government in England

gives a wonderful account of the Home Civil Service of England tracing

down its history, its relevance for the day and the impact it has had on the

English society and politics as a whole. But, that’s all about the English

Civil Service.

‘Law and Government’ in principle and practice, a journal published

by Odhams Press Ltd., London under the Editorship of Prof. J.L.Brierly,

Chair of International Relations, Edinburgh University gives a very

interesting account of British Law and Government with a Chapter on Civil

Service of England and elsewhere. It also gives a brief mention of how the

first open competitive examination was conducted for the Indian Civil

Service in 1853 in England.

E.Ashirvatham’s Political Theory published in 1952 (Chapter 11, page

308) has a sub chapter on Civil Service and he has given a good account of

the definition and history, recruitment and training of Civil Servants,

Conditions of Service, Functions of Civil Servants, and tests of a good

system of Civil Service. This wonderful account is about the Civil Service in

general, and civil service in different countries of the world. In this research

paper, the relevant portion has been extracted wherever applicable, but this
 16

book is not expected to give a constitutional account of Indian

Administrative Service.

A huge body of literature on public administration is available which

gives a brief account of the Civil Services in India and abroad. Notable in

this regard is Prof. S.R.Maheswari who was a member of the Administrative

Reforms Committee (ARC) of Uttar Pradesh in 1973 and who has served

as Professor of Political Science and public administration in the Indian

Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi. His book “Indian

Administration - An Historical Account” published by Jawahar Publishers &

Distributors; New Delhi during the year 1994 gives a historical account of

the origin of Civil Services in India and the evolution and growth of the

service before Independence and after Independence. He has also given a

brief account of various Committees and Commissions set up in the post­

independence period to review the functioning of the Government

machinery and also to reform the Civil Services in India. We have extracted

quotations from this book at appropriate places. The same author has

written several books on the same subject in a variety of perspectives. For

example - Indian Administration9, The Evolution of Indian Administration10,

The Administrative Reforms Commission11, Government through

9 S.R.Maheswari, Indian Administration - An Historical Account, 1994 - Indian Administration, Orient Longman, 1/24,
Asaf Ali Road, New Delhi.

“S.R. Maheswari, Indian Administration - An Administration - An Historical Account, 1994 - The Evolution of Indian
Administration..
11 S.R. Maheswari Indian Administration - An Historical Account, 1994- The Administrative Reforms Commission, Laxmi
Narain Agarawal, Hospital Road, Agra-3.
 17

Consultation12, The study of Public Administration13, The Civil Service in

Great Britain14, Public Administration in India15, The Higher Civil Service in

France16, Higher Civil Service in Japan17. These books also contain brief

reference to the concept of Civil Service, but Indian Administrative Service

as such is not the basic theme of any of these books.

‘Prof. V.D. Mahajan’s book ‘British Rule in India and After’ contains a

chapter on Constitutional Development from 1772-1950 that examines the

evolution and growth of civil services in India as an off-shoot of the

Constitutional development in India. But, treatment of subject is basically in

historical perspective.

It is noted that a good number of manuals on All India Services,

particularly the law relating to the IAS, IPS and the IFS are available in the

market. A reference may be made to R.N.MISHRA’s “All India Services

Manual” published by Hind Publishing House, Allahabad. The Manual

starts with the text of All India Services Act, 1951 with brief explanatory note

at appropriate places and also citation of the case law relevant to each

section wherever it is available. Similarly, it has reproduced the text of

various Rules and Regulations governing the All India Services, which are

85 in number. They include various Rules and Regulations governing the

u S.R. Maheswari, Indian Administration - An Historical Account, 1994 - Government through consultation, Indian
Institution of Public Administration, New Delhi.
13 S.R. Maheswari, Indian Administration - An Historical Account, 1994 - The Study of Public Administration (edited)
Laxmi Narain Agarawal, Hospital Road, Agra-3.
14 S.R.Maheswari, Indian Administration- An Historical Account, 1994 -The Civil Service in Great Britain, Concept
Publishing Company, New Delhi.
15 S.R.Maheswari, Indian Administration - An Historical Account, 1994 - Public Administration in India Management of
change, Bangalore University, Bangalore.
16 S.R.Maheswari, Indian Administration - An Historical Account, 1994 - The High Civil Service in France, New Delhi,
Allied Publisher.
17 S.R. Maheswari, Indian Administration - An Historical Account, 1994 - Higher Civil Service in Japan, Allied Publishers,
New Delhi.
 18

Central services also. The said Manual does not contain either the history

of the services or the views of the members of the Constituent Assembly

about the All India Services nor a detailed narrative on the different

variables like appointment, promotion, cadre allotment, seniority, deputation

etc., A member of service consulting the Manual may find only the bare text

of various Rules and Regulations and nothing else.

Similarly, Sarkar’s THE ALL INDIA SERVICES MANUAL published

by Dwivedi Law Agency, Allahabad follows the same pattern. We do not

find either the history or the background note or the relevant case law

on the subject of All India Services. The citations of the case law are far

and few in between. None of those Manuals give full picture of All India

Services either in retrospect or in prospect.

Other books on Indian Constitutional Law like ‘Durgadas Basu’s

Shorter Constitution of India, and the Introduction to Constitution of India

have a chapter each on the All India Services. They give a brief account of

the Constitutional position of the All India Services and very brief reference

to its aims and objectives. They do not present either the history of the

service or the present state of affairs of the service or how the services

should be shaped in response to the present day challenges. Other books

on Constitutional Law deal with the Constitution as a whole with a Chapter,

of course, on Civil Services including All India Services. The most

respectable book on Constitutional Law of India by ‘H.M.Seervai18’ has just

H.M.Seervai, Constitutional Law of India, 2002, Vol. 3, Universal Book Traders, Delhi, Chapter XXVII, Pg.No: 2987
 19

one Para on Article 312 of the Constitution of India, which is the subject

matter of our research study, although Seervai has given a wonderful

account of what the role of Civil Services should be citing quotations from

Sir Warren Fisher, Permanent - Head of the British Treasury, Sardar

Vallabhbhai Patel and from Shah Commission’s Report. Seervai’s treatise

gives an excellent account of Articles 309 to 311, 313 and other articles in

part XIV of the Constitution including Chapter 2 of part XIV, but a mere

paragraph on Art. 312 may be by reason of the fact that nothing has been

done by the Parliament pursuant to Article 312. In other words, there is no

development of Constitutional Law with regard to All India Services. As

already pointed out, they continue to be governed by the Rules and

Regulations framed by the Government of India. There are a large number

of books available on political science and public administration, which

necessarily have a chapter on Civil Services.

Another important book that is found to be very close to the subject of

the research study is Sahoo’s Hand Book 19on service matters for the IAS,

IPS and IFS 2008. But this book is in the nature of a Hand Book. It

contains very brief information about the constitutional provisions in Part

XIV and the All India Services Act of 1951. It also throws light on various

variables like; regulation of cadres, pay scales, new appointments and

probation, appointments by competitive examination, promotion and

selection, seniority, In Service promotion, Deputation, Performance

Appraisal report, Conduct and Disciplinary matters etc.,

19 D.CSahoo, IAS, Sahoo's Hand Book on Service Matters for IAS, IPS & IFS 2008, DCS Publishers, Bhubaneswar.
 20

But this book doesn’t have any thing about the history and role of the

Civil Service in the present day socio - political environment of the country

and aims and objects of the service. In fact this book serves as a ready

reckoner of the service matters pertaining to the IAS, IPS & IFS.

Though there are several works on the subject of All India Services

from the point of view of political scientists, public administration experts

and manuals prepared for the lawyers, hardly there is any serious research

work carried out to study and expose critically the weaknesses of the All

India Service from the point of view of legal scholars and on the critical

issue of absence of comprehensive legislation on All India Services and this

study would fill the said gap and provide an opportunity for proper

understanding of the issue in the right perspective and provide scope for

future research in the area.

The research study encompasses, as already mentioned above, the

historical background of the Civil Service in India and abroad, the evolution

and growth of Civil Service in India, mandate of the service as laid down by

the founding fathers of our constitution in the debates of Constituent

Assembly of India and a review of various committees and commissions set

up in post independence era to study the working of the Civil Services and

to make suggestions, to fine- tune the services with the changing socio­

economic perspective of India. The present study goes beyond what it is

today to what it should be tomorrow.

1.06 The Aims and Objectives of Research study

The research has been undertaken with the following aims and

objectives:

The major aim of the present piece of investigation was to make a critical

study of the growth, status and the political entanglements of the All India

Services specially with regard to IAS and IPS personnel.

The specific objectives of the present study were —

1. To critically analyze the historical growth of the institution of Civil

Service in India and the U.K.

2. To study the role and impact of the political environment in India

on the shaping of the All India Services and explain how far the

services stand in tune with the Constitutional objectives.

3. To trace the growth of law relating to recruitment to IAS with

special reference to direct recruits vs. promotees.

4. To sketch the evolution of case law both at Tribunals and

Constitutional courts.

5. To discover the inter-se relationship between the political

executive and officials of IAS and maintenance of neutrality by the

civil servants.

6. To suggest, measures to regulate the recruitment to IAS by

promotion/ selection and political entanglements of All India

Services.
 22

1.07 The Hypotheses

The following hypotheses have been formulated for the purpose of

the present study:

1) Relation-ship between political executive and bureaucracy

representing Civil Service is not well defined. Consequently, the

conflict between the two is regular and constant.

2) The political executive desires to keep the law on All India Services

(bureaucracy representing the IAS) open and flexible than rigid and

regulated to sub-serve their political ends than to meet larger national

goals.

3) Change in the political environment, specifically with the

emergence of regional parties the conflict between political executive

and bureaucracy representing All India Services has become all the

more conspicuous and regular.

4) Absence of the comprehensive legislation on All India Services is

pregnant with the danger of giving rise to growth of committed

bureaucracy.

5) Absence of a comprehensive legislation on All India Service

provides opportunity to handpick candidates of their choice to

important positions.

6) Source of recruitment to All India Services, direct/promotion has a

direct relation to the conflict within the cadre.

7) The judicial decisions take an unduly long time to resolve the

disputes and are often diluted due to its non-implementation within a

time frame and thus defeat the interests of the aggrieved persons.

1.08 The Methodology

The study is primarily doctrinal based on the data collected

from various sources such as books, commentaries, articles, committee

reports, journals and Constituent Assembly debates. It has an element of

empirical research as the Researcher himself being a member of Indian

Administrative Service has gained valuable insights into the problem

through participation, interaction with fellow colleagues and gathered

valuable information which adds to the quality of present research. The

Researcher though a member of All India Service nevertheless maintained

objectivity in analysis, neutrality in understanding the issues. Hence, the

Researcher being member of Indian Administrative Service cannot lessen

the quality of research on the ground of subjectivity but at the most it can be

considered as an important limitation to the present research study without

affecting validity of its findings.

While a lot of research has been done in related areas like rule

making power under Article 309 of the Constitution of India and the doctrine

of pleasure and number of other concepts, but no such study can throw

light on the total mechanism of the system whereby the All India Services

are handled at macro and micro level. The aims and objectives of this

study are to understand the subject in its fullest amplitude. A comparison of

the subject with its counterparts in other countries helps understand the

different features. The services being constitutional in nature it is

worthwhile making an attempt to understand and analyze how the

constitution has worked over a period of more than 50 years in

strengthening the All India Services. The concept of judicial review being

one of the basic features of the constitution of India, we need to have a look

at how the mechanism of judicial review has corrected the imbalances

arising out of quasi-legislative and executive actions in the domain of All

India Services. In fact, most of the law has evolved as a result of the judicial

intervention in the domain of All India Services.

It is also worthwhile to study as to why the Parliament of India is yet

to absolve itself of the responsibility of making a comprehensive legislation

with regard to recruitment and conditions of service of All India Service

Officers. At the time of passing the All India Services Act, 1951, one reason

cited by the Parliament was shortness of time available to the Parliament in

that year. The question remains unanswered as to why the Parliament is

yet to find time to legislate on this subject. It is obvious that either the

subject itself has become unimportant or there may be some undisclosed

reasons best known to the Lawmakers themselves for not making

legislation on the subject. It is also worth studying as to whose interest is

served by not addressing this issue. Assuming for a while that the All India

Services, particularly the IAS and the IPS have become obsolete then the

Nation needs a service, which fulfils its needs and aspirations. Either way
 25

the issue needs to be addressed. It is also worth studying whether the

dream of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel to secure freedom of speech for the Civil

Servants vis-a-vis the Ministers could ever come true. The political

environment of the country greatly contributes to the present state of affairs

of the All India Services. On a comparison with the British Civil Service, we

find that the contrast is more glaring in the treatment of the civil service. It

enjoys a certain status in the Constitution. “By convention, though not in

law, the civil servant became the third element in the British Constitution. In

India, the status of civil service is recognized in the Constitution itself. Yet,

politicians have merrily driven a coach and four through it.”

According to ‘A.G.Noorani'20 “We have come to a pass when a

senior Civil servant, N.K.Singh, could go on television when the Bharatiya

Janata Party (BJP) was in power and denounce its predecessor: “Foreign

policy was out of sync.” The TV channel kept repeating this as an

advertisement. Civil servants are suspended and transferred at will in this

country. It is different in the U.K. “Occasionally Ministers under political

pressure might be tempted to cut corners. Their officials’ lesser temptation

to do so was reinforced by their having a different motivation from Ministers,

by their appointment through competitive examination to tenured

pensionable careers and by Ministers having almost no power over their

posting and promotion, so achieving the independence from ministerial

influence over appointments which The Federalist had believed vital as

between different elements in the Constitution.

20 A.G.Noorani - A system in decline, Frontline, dated 24lh September - 7lh October 2005 Page5.
 26

In the 1920s Sir William Beveridge, once a Permanent Secretary,

could say that the relationship between Minister and Permanent Secretary

was like that between man and wife; except that the Minister did not choose

the Permanent Secretary and could not divorce him”

In contrast with the afore noted comments of A.G.Noorani, let us

have a look at what Justice Venkata Challaiah’s report of 2002 has to say

about the Indian Administrative Service. According to the report of the

National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution21 the All

India Services are steeped into colonial practice and ideas and they appear

to be incompatible with the development of the democratic set up. The

Commission feels that the services are status quoist and that they have a

vested interest in perpetuating their dominant advantageous position along

with the privileges flowing from it.

The Commission views them as persons lacking the vision and

imagination and incapable of being innovative. The Commission feels that

the present age of knowledge explosion may require a different conception

of the generalist services. The Commission opined that above a certain

level - say the Joint Secretary level all posts should be open for recruitment

from a wide variety of sources including the open market. The Commission

also felt that it is essential to bring forward a parliamentary Bill under Article

21 Justice Sri M.N. Venkatachalaiah, Report of the National Commission to Review the working of Constitution 2002,
Universal Law Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd. Delhi, Chapter 6, page 124.
 27

312(1) and to have it extensively debated in professional circles as well as

by the general public.

Thus, the basic aims and objects of the research study are to reflect

on the courses a corrective process could adopt.

1.09 Scope and Limitations of the Study

The present investigation was limited only to study the growth, status

and the political entanglements of service jurisprudence in the domain of All

India Services. It was limited only to make a comparative study of U.K.,

U.S., France and Japan systems with that of Indian Administrative Service.

The major focus of the study was on political entanglements of Indian

Administrative Service personnel and the Indian Police Service personnel.

The Indian Revenue Service, Indian Foreign Service and other All India

Services were not touched in the present study. The Case Laws quoted

were also limited to the IAS/IPS/IFS service personnel. For the study the

researcher adopted the Empirical method which is based on the

researcher’s own experience and also by collecting the data by observing

the instances happened to his Colleagues. The data was gathered both

from direct and indirect sources. Direct sources were the investigator and

his colleagues’ experiences and the indirect sources include the data from

books written by renowned and famous authors, standards journals,

documents, news items, commentaries and Case Laws. The researcher

adopted the Hypothetico-deductive procedure in the present piece of

investigation for the collection of data and reporting. Further, this is purely a

qualitative study.

1.10 Chapterisation
The thesis has VII chapters. The first chapter deals with the

introduction. In this chapter, the inception of Indian Administrative Service in

the country, the personnel required to man these services, the significance

of the problem of investigation, statement of the problem, the objectives,

hypotheses and methodological aspects were discussed. In this chapter a

brief review of related literature was made along with the scope and

limitations of the study.

In Chapter-ll along with methodological framework of the study a

transnational comparison of the Civil Services has been made. U.K., USA,

France and Japan’s systems were compared and the strategic issues

relating to Indian Administrative Service are given.

In Chapter-Ill the constitutional framework governing the All India

Services has been encompassed. It discusses the important concepts like

fundamental rights, the directive principles, equality before law and

doctrines like Doctrine of Pleasure in the constitutional perspective of India,

the rule making power of the Union and the procedure to be followed for

removal, dismissal or reduction in rank of persons employed in civil

capacities under the Union or a State and the distinguishing features in

Article-312 of the constitution of India which does not confer the rule making

power on the President or the Governor in so far as the All India Services
 29

are concerned. It has been tried to highlight how the service law has grown

in the domain of ‘delegated legislation’. The study also discusses the

constitutional mechanism for recruitment of members of All India Services

by way of a competitive examination conducted by the Public Service

Commission at the Union level. Besides, it has discussed the constitutional

safeguards available for the civil servants. In addition, it also encompasses

the constitutional provisions with regard to the mechanism of judicial review

in the domain of the services under the Union and the States by way of

setting up of administrative tribunals for the Central as well as State

Services. This chapter basically brings into light the civil services in India

particularly the All India Services, which are the subject of our research

problem in the constitutional perspective.

Chapter-IV is on Variables, Sample and Case Laws. It studies under

part A, the variables concerning the recruitment and conditions of service of

the All India Services with focus on IAS. The variables under study are

Appointment to IAS, Methods of Recruitment, Probation, Regulation of

Cadres, Seniority, Promotion, Deputation, Conduct, Disciplinary Matters,

Leave and Miscellaneous matters and Performance Appraisal Report and

also under part B the Case Laws governing the AIS starting with the case of

Mohanlal Kapoor vs. Union of India that was pronounced by Supreme Court

in 1973. The review covered various case laws from the Administrative

Tribunals, the High Courts across the country and the Supreme Court of

India. This study has chosen the cut off date of 28.02.1998, which is the

date on which the Supreme Court of India delivered its judgment in the
 30

most prominent landmark case of Gudur Kishan Rao Vs. Suthirtha

Bhattacharya. This case belongs to Andhra Pradesh. But the latest

landmark judgment of CAT Hyderabad bench in Mohd. Shafiq-uz-Zama vs.

GOAP and others which has direct bearing on the findings of this study has

also been included. An analysis of case law discussed in this chapter would

reveal that the problems identified in this study deserve more and more

attention of the Parliament in the changing political scenario of the country

in the back drop of emergence of regional parties in India.

Chapter-V deals with the important topic - Political Environment and

Bureaucracy, which affects the services at the macro level. In this chapter

an attempt has been made to discuss politicization of the Civil Service in

Britain, and the politics and administration in India. The discussion

culminated in identifying the ills of All India Services proving the hypotheses

formulated for the study.

In Chapter-VI of the study, conclusions confirming or rejecting the

various hypotheses of this study and recommendations made basing on the

research study with regard to the corrective actions that may be taken to

make the service more meaningful in today’s context have been brought

out.

In Chapter-VII a model legislation as proposed in U.K. and how a

model for India can be developed is shown.

****